All News items from Mexico

Human rights defender Mr Juan Carlos Flores Solís has been released from prison where he had been held since his arrest in Puebla on 7 April 2014. Despite his release, Juan Carlos Flores Solís still faces a number of other charges.

Two of the three criminal proceedings against human rights defender Mr Juan Carlo Flores Solís have been dropped, while one case remains pending. The human rights defender has been held in detention since his arrest in Puebla on 7 April 2014. He now awaits trial on charges of 'aggravated theft'.

The 52 organizations and persons signatory to this letter, which work for the protection of human rights and the environment, address you in order to express our deep concern at the detention of Mr Marco Antonio Suástegui, leader of the Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositores a la Presa La Parota – CECOP (Council of Communal Lands and Communities Opposing the La Parota Dam), on 17 June by members of the Ministerial Police of the Attorney General of Justice of Guerrero State.

On April 29 2014, human rights defender Mr Omar Esparza Zárarte began a hunger strike, demanding that the Mexican and Oaxacan authorities end the four years of impunity for those responsible for the of killing human rights defender Ms Bety Cariño.

Front Line Defenders, Protection International, PBI, and CIFCA have issued a joint briefing paper on the situation of human rights defenders in Mexico, in view of the EU-Mexico Human Rights Dialogue, which took place in Brussels on the 18th March 2014.

In recent weeks, a number of articles have been published in various Mexican media outlets aiming to misrepresent the work of human rights organisation Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales – ProDESC (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Project).

Human rights defender Mr Rubén Figueroa, together with other staff members of the human rights organisation El Refugio para Personas Migrantes “La 72” (The “72” Refuge for Migrant Persons) has been forced to cease his activities with the centre indefinitely as a result of ongoing threats and the Government's inaction in terms of providing security measures.

On 30 April 2013, human rights defender Ms Alba Cruz received a threatening message to her mobile phone. The tone of the message was similar to threats she had received before, in which she was told there was still unfinished business which needed to be acted on.

On 10 April 2013 the Third Court of First Instance of the Judicial District of Xalapa sentenced Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva, “El Silva”, to 38 years and two months in prison, for the homicide and robbery of human rights defender and journalist Regina Martínez Pérez in April 2012.